To have a house, or not...that is the question... - Page 2

DeltaEtaKP · #16 07-19-2005, 03:49 PM

On our campus, we don't have houses, but each sorority/fraternity has their own dorm building.

like these. They house 40 plus an RD (which may or may not be a member of the sorority/fraternity) The sorority houses have members only, while sometimes the fraternities have random independents when they cannot fill the house (usually after recruitment, pledges move in and independents move out--although this year, there was a boy that did not get into the fraternity whose dorm he was living in, and his fraternity dorm was full, so he stayed there--sticky situation)
The rules for live-ins vary from sorority to sorority, but for us, all members of EC (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Phi Director, Membership Director, Panhel Delegate, Panhel Recruitment team member, and someone filling another posistion on Panhel) must live in the house. Also if the house does not fill with people being able to live wherever they want (which doesn't happen) they may be assigned to live in the house. (So we don't have independents)
The dorms include 2 lobbys--a formal and an informal, and a kitchen. It is campus housing, and since we HAVE to live on campus all four years, it is as good as we can get.
This is the formal lobby and informal and another formal, informal

SurfinDBeach · #17 07-19-2005, 03:59 PM

DeltaEtaKP, you have nothing to complain about! Having your own Dorm on campus is awesome!

Plus the fact that you have to live on campus - that's even more great!

33girl · #18 07-19-2005, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AOIIalum
YIKES! Trust me, that's an overall risk management nightmare waiting to happen. It may not be the official XYZ house, but if the perception is "that's where all the XYZs live every year" official may not matter when it comes to alcohol, injury or litigation (and so on, I'm not an attorney but know the "unofficial housing" thing is an issue that's watched closely at my local campus because of risk concerns.)

Not if you live in different apartments every year.

That's why I said don't hang letters etc. I was simply saying that if on-campus things or "official" houses aren't available, you can still use someone's apartment to meet up at.

AXiDTrish · #19 07-19-2005, 04:13 PM

Amanda, Girl! You crack me up!

Since your chapter doesn't have a house and I'll bet money won't for a long time (if ever.....) this is a fairly hypothetical discussion for you.

Humor me and step out of the box for a minute.....

If you eventually get housing, members at the time are going to have to decide IF they want to make certain sacrifices to move into the house (if they don't move in, the will probably be accessed a parlor fee). House rules can be similar or more restrictive than dorms...NO alcohol, visitation requirements, security cards, etc. Step into the shoes of an 18 year old freshman versus a 24 year old adult....parents of freshmen expect and want certain measures in place.

This may suck for the girls who are currently members, BUT as you get NM's and after a generation (3-4 years) there won't be any question. The people who accept offices will automatically expect to live in housing and won't think a thing of it....

We can chat about this later if you want. It's difficult to explain this online! =)

DeltaEtaKP · #20 07-20-2005, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SurfinDBeach
DeltaEtaKP, you have nothing to complain about! Having your own Dorm on campus is awesome!

Plus the fact that you have to live on campus - that's even more great!

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love it. I'm glad that everyone has to live on campus. I know that many of my friends, I would probably not know if it was a commuter college.
Since it is so small (1,200) everyone living there makes it a close community instead of just a school.
I also like that we have our own dorms b/c I know there are many schools where different organizations have to share dorms. Sometimes though, I do get jealous when I see pictures of other sorority houses because they are so beautiful.

a.e.B.O.T. · #21 07-20-2005, 01:09 AM

Our campus is not residential. No fraternities live on campus, but each have a lodge space where the fraternity USE to live, because they were residential at one time. Im finding there are pros and cons to not having a house. Recently meeting a bunch of Betas from across the country, alot of their chapters problems evolve around housing and living in the house. I think it would be awesome to live in the Beta House on campus, and I would love to room with my brothers, who I will know Ill have a blast with. HOWEVER, not living with them, I get to live with non-greeks (which is 70% of our campus) and we get to stay really connected with them as well as our brothers. Plus you dont have to deal with all the annoying quirks of some of your brothers, which helps you keep them in a healthier light, in comparison to what might happen if you were ALWAYS around them. So its nice. We still meet everyweek, and do event, and party, and have a lodge space all to ourself to call our own. THE BIGGEST downfall to not living in a house is that there are some brothers I barely know, and I can garentee that that isnt going to change much no matter what I do. Living together, your kind of forced to bond I guess, or atleast get to know each other. So, there are plus and minuses

slayerzbt · #22 07-20-2005, 05:01 PM

All the fraternities and sororities at my school have a house (well, except for us). There are about 2,500 -3,500 students at my school so its pretty small. The houses are scattered around the area, but all are reasonably close to campus. There are actually a couple of sorority houses that are listed as on campus and are owned by the school.

I'm pretty sure that all the other organizations are responsible for their house, not the school. The reason we dont have a house is because our deal with the landlord fell through. For us it was out of the jurisdiction of my campus and they cant really do anything. So in that respect, we will be responsible for finding a new house and keeping it. Gannon hasn't given us any help in that department. Hopefully we can get a house soon, but I really dont know how its gonna be to go without one.

Tom Earp · #23 07-20-2005, 06:06 PM

One must be careful to be sure.

There are only so many ways Greeks can live on Campus.

1. College Supplied

2. Rental and with the owners permission to place things on said House.

3. Wholely Owned.

The Last two must make sure that there is Insurance that covers it.

Many More Schools are building Greek Housing and it falls under their control.

Owning Your House can be either a Profitable or not situation depending if it is full. It can also be a Money Pit.

We rented our 1 st Two Houses and bought the 3 rd.

We are building a New House but dont know if We will ahve a Chapter there as The Old House got in such disrepair before We tore it down. It may have been to late as no one wanted to live in it and wouldnt join or live there.

Be very careful for what You wish, it might come true and then what?

But as was said, there is a place to go and to hang and be with Your Brothers/Sisters!

That does help keep a Group Close!

flirt5721 · #24 07-20-2005, 07:08 PM

We have a house. Well if you could call it a house. And these are the rules
1) President and Financial VP have to live in the house (National rule)

2) All executive members and New Member Education Chair have to live in the house (Stupid chapter rule)

3) President, FVP, and Recording Sec. get a single room (Really Stupid Chapter Rule)

4) We have to live in the house a least 2 semesters

5) Single rooms (5 allowed) will go by Quill number (Pin number)

6) No boys after a certain time

7) There are other rules but I forgot since I'm no longer living in the house.

33girl · #25 07-20-2005, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by flirt5721
3) President, FVP, and Recording Sec. get a single room (Really Stupid Chapter Rule)

I take it you did not hold any of these offices.

LOL

PhoenixAzul · #26 07-20-2005, 10:33 PM

I can understand president and fvp...but recording secretary???? cmon...

amanda6035 · #27 07-20-2005, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PhoenixAzul
I can understand president and fvp...but recording secretary???? cmon...

I can understand all 3...granted, I'm BOTH FVP and Secretary for my chapter....but recording secretary is a thankless job. Maybe I'm just biased, but I can understand the reasoning, even though I cant quite explain it. The secretary isn't a VP position, but she has an important role, and "power" (not quite the right word) in other ways.

a.e.B.O.T. · #28 07-21-2005, 12:12 AM

the secretary is a bitch job that does a shitload of work without notice... id give them the single

KSUViolet06 · #29 07-21-2005, 12:33 AM

My chapter has a house. All 6 NPC groups here are housed. Of 22 IFC groups, I can think of maybe 2 or 3 that aren't housed.

Our house sleeps 12. We have 6 single rooms, 2 double rooms, and a basement apartment with 2 singles. We have the most single rooms of any sorority on campus.

The 7 officer board members are required to live in for their entire officer term. The officers get first choice of rooms. The remaining 5 are open to any initiated member in good standing. ALL members are required to live in the house at some point.

EtaEpsilove · #30 07-21-2005, 12:35 AM

On my campus, all (or most) of the fraternities have houses. However, none of the sororities have or are allowed to have houses. We're a middle - sized school (around 15,000 undergrads), and we've just never been allowed to have houses.

Instead, there are three dorms on campus that are designated the sorority dorms. These dorms accomodate the majority of sophomores who wish to live with their pledge sisters and the 17 suites/chapter rooms for their respective sororities. The first floors contain the sorority suites which typically have a large chapter room, an office and a kitchen. Then, each sorority also gets a corridor or a floor for housing.

Sisters may live with each other, but they can also have an unaffiliated roommate. For example, I'm an ADPi, but my roommate's a Phi Mu, but we still live in the ADPi corridor. Basically, just one of the two roommate's have to be affiliated with the sorority corridor in which they live.

I think it has its pluses and minuses, just like any housing situation. Sometimes I wish we had houses because they're gorgeous, and I feel like you get to know all the sisters in your house better. But, I still like our system b/c we can still room w/ girls who aren't in our sorority ... so it's not like the second you join a sorority you can only be friends with your sisters. Well, sorry my post was long...but that's sorority life at Miami U!